Clam Puffs
These Clam Puffs are a take on a Traders Vic’s recipe yet different. I remember having these at my mother-in-law Louise’s many years ago and thinking how elegant they looked ……and scrumptious they were (and still are). What an uncomplicated appetizer to make. You can whip up the mixture in a matter of minutes and cut out little bread rounds a day or two before keeping them in a Ziploc baggie. Then when you are ready butter the bottoms and place on a cookie tray and top the rounds right before baking with the clam mixture, which only takes 5 minutes. You can use cookie cut outs for making the bread rounds or as I have shown you here it’s really easy to use a glass if you prefer a certain size.
Ingredients:
- 1 can minced clams-DRAINED
- 24 bread rounds from a loaf of Wonder bread-8 pieces of white bread
- 4 oz. cream cheese room temp. (either reg. or 1/3 less fat – Philadephia)
- 1/4 cup mayo (Hellman’s)
- 3 Tbsp grated Parmesean cheese
- 1 Tbsp grated vidalia onion with microplaner (yellow or white is good too)
- 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 stick melted butter
- fresh chives finely chopped
Directions:
- Pre-heat oven to 375º.
- Cut out 1 3/4″ bread rounds.
- You should get 3 per slice.
- Add the remaining ingredients in the list to a small bowl and mix together.
- Melt the butter for the bottoms of the bread rounds and begin to dunk the bottoms in only…this helps to get a delicate and tasty crust on the bottom of the rounds once you bake them.
- Place all the buttered rounds onto the cookie tray and begin to top with 1 Tbsp of mixture per round.
- Put into the oven for approx. 12 min.
- LIGHTLY GOLDEN ONLY keep an eye on them so they don’t burn.
- Plate and top with chopped chives.